You have been born with natural leadership attributes. To lead is not a defined position given to you. Instead, it’s the identity of anyone who guides others, initiates action or goes first.
Leadership is a two-sided engagement where both sides constantly change. As you grow and develop, so does the requirement of the people you lead. You might feel pressure to level up your leadership abilities as their skills increase.
There are 15 prototypical leadership development areas with many skill elements that make up each area. For example, emotional intelligence has several skill elements – such as high self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy. You can claim mastery of these skills, which means you can teach how to do the skill or record a STAR experience having used the leadership skill well.
Another critical area of leadership is communication. For a first-time leader, communicating the company’s strategy is vital to keep their team aligned to meeting a deadline. However, an excellent executive communicator must be able to write the strategy and present a consistent message to people in the company, customers, and shareholders. CareerTruth provides many skills within the 15 leadership areas for you to name and claim. You can also add your own.
Honestly, recognizing and naming your leadership skills here in CareerTruth is very important for a few reasons:
- Understand your impact on others: No matter if you manage zero or thousands of people, your ability to influence with or without authority uses the same leadership skills.
- Value Creation: Whether you want to make more money or focus on fulfilling your purpose, the value of your success is directly related to your ability to lead.
- Your Development: By highlighting where you have mastery in any leadership area, you will also create a “gap analysis” of the future state you want to become as a leader.
Continuously developing as a leader relates to serving other people well – in your company, industry, home, and community – not only in your career but your life’s work.